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I love to sew

Saturday, March 31, 2012

I'm currently working on a skirt refashion. In 2009, I purchased up this size 26, embroidered 100% silk skirt from Avenue--on the clearance rack of course! I am far from being a size 26 (I'm a size16 RTW) but I immediately saw the possibility for a refashion.

I considered several patterns from my stash but finally settled on Simplicity 2605.

The first thing I did was open the side seams. I planned on using the existing hem so left it intact. I also planned to reuse the zipper.

Speaking of the zipper. I've never seen this on a zipper before. The fabric on the botton of the zipper is totally new to me. I don't own a lot of RTW so it could just be me. I think it's really cool.

So far everything is going as planned. I've got to make some slight adjustments and insert the lining.

Hopefully the next post wil reveal the final results and me modeling it!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

I know I said I wasn't going to make any more dresses, but decided I do want to add a few more to my wardrobe. I wanted to give Vogue 1250 one last try. After the last fiasco, I decided I needed to do an FBA as well as a wide back adjustment. Debbie Cook at Stitches and Seams has a wonderful tutorial for the FBA. Both adjustments were super easy although I swear I nearly used an entire roll of tape.

So what are the results? This dress stitches up super fast and while I don't love it, it is much more comfortable with the adjustments. The dress wants to rest right on top of my protruding thighs and is not a look I like. I'll have to wear a slip. Ugh!

The fabric is from my stash from Walmart. Because of the width adjustments, the "skirt part" came out much too wide. I wound up having to take in the extra via "side seams." I do have a border print in my stash that I might use for a second version...who knows. BTW did anybody else have an issue with the dress front wanting to hang longer than the back?

Friday, March 23, 2012

I know it's been a while. I haven't been sewing at all. The problem is that I want to make pants. I want to make jeans, slacks, and walking shorts. "So why aren't you," you might ask. I just can't bring myself to. I have so many wonderful fabrics that would fit the bill. As you all know I had total knee replacement in November. I was housebound and almost totally incapacitated for nearly three months. You know where all this is leading. I gained 15 lbs!

I've returned to Weight Watchers and am on the road back to where I once was. In the meantime I don't want to sew garments that will probably only fit for a few weeks. I'm working out on the Elliptical machine for 40 minutes at a time and riding my bicycle up to 6.5 miles. My knee is on its way back to where it needs to be. In the meantime, no slacks sewing for me. I want to get in on the current colored jeans trend. I have a beautiful flowered stretch twill that I am dying to turn into some skinny jeans. For me, fitting slacks or jeans is too labor intensive to make any knowing they won't fit long. I've promised myself that once I lose 10 pounds I can start more seriously thinking about sewing jeans and slacks.

Health wise I'm a little concerned because once again I'm having breast health issues. I'm having some pain and swelling issues in it and recently had to resort to wearing the compression sleeve on my arm again. I'm pretty sure I have a doctor's appointment coming up and will be able to discuss having the fluid drained again. Both my mother and my aunt are breast cancer survivors and after their mastectomies, neither had any issues. I, on the other hand, had a lumpectomy w/lymph nodes and radiation and have continued issues including another surgery and having to have my breast drained three other times! I wonder if I'd have been better off having a mastectomy had it been an option?

In the meantime I am keeping current on the blogs I follow. I'm living vicariously through other people's sewing! My one pet peeve about the blogs I do follow is the freaking word verification. It's driving me bonkers! I hate having to decipher the cryptic verification words and invariably have to make several attempts before I get it right. Please, oh please consider turning word verification off. If you are noticing a decrease in the number of comments you receive, word verification could be the culprit. TTYS and keep on sewing!